The iPod saga continues (and ends). Per the next step, I ordered a good quality Monster cable. Tom and I tried it out with the nano but the distortion, hissing and static were still very apparent. Resigned, I was ready to throw in the towel but Tom had another idea. He grabbed his iPhone and plugged the cable into it. The sound was perfect. No distortion whatsoever. Plugged the nano back in. Distortion city. Hm. I retrieved my daily iPod, a 4th generation or so nano and plugged it in. Perfect. No static at all.
So apparently the central problem was the iPod itself. Tom and I discussed the differences in the iPods, but haven't really come to a conclusion as to why the new nano won't work in the car. It's just one of those things, I suppose. I guess I'll just switch up the content on the two players, load my audiobooks onto the new one and use the older one in the car. All's well that ends well.
All of that happened on Saturday morning. Going back a few hours was Friday night, on which I attended my niece's high school graduation. An event that I admit I was not looking forward to, really. Graduation ceremonies are so boring, aren't they? All of the speeches droning on, a forever list of names being called, Pomp and Circumstances played over and over. But I was pleasantly surprised and not bored very much. The speeches were brief, yet interesting and there were only around 295 graduates. Tori's an outgoing character and we were not at all surprised to see her leap into the principal's arms after her name was called. The only unpleasant part of the evening came when it was time to leave. Even though we all stood around talking for quite some time after the ceremony had completed, traffic was still a problem and it took quite a while to finally exit the school grounds.
As a result, Tom and I had our weekly pizza a bit later than usual. We ordered from Stone Creek, since it was much closer and while it was tasty, we would rather have had our standard Valentino's pizza. I missed my two slices with mushrooms and pepperoni.
Back to Saturday, I enjoyed listening to my iPod while driving myself to Florida Mall. I had warned Tom that I had a "girlie trip" in mind, primarily concerned with makeup and perfume, though he was welcome to come along. He wisely declined. Which worked out perfectly for me, because as much as I love Tom and enjoy spending time with him, I had a much better time by myself.
I started with a makeover at Nordstrom with my favorite makeup artist, Sumita. My main concern was to find a pink lipstick that wasn't too bright, but not too light. Sumita knows me pretty well (Hello conservative!) and is so good with colors, the first shade she tried on me was exactly what I had in mind. She proceeded to do my eye makeup with fresh summery pinks and a pale blush to match. Naturally, I wanted to buy everything that she had applied on me. I didn't, but I bought enough.
Next stop: Sephora. Tom totally hates this store and generally waits outside. Making me feel like I need to hurry, so I don't often get to take my time and thoroughly see everything. And actually, I didn't even spend much time browsing, because I had made myself a list of particular items I wanted to check out.
I also wandered into the Apple Store, but didn't find anything interesting there. Ended up buying a pair of earrings in the new Brighton store. Sniffed some perfumes at Saks, but wasn't impressed. Checked out the new Victoria's Secret Bombshell Summer fragrance. I liked it quite a lot. It's very similar to the regular fragrance, but has a fruity addition. Because I don't need a whole bottle of just slightly difference perfume, I bought the travel size body spray and a body lotion, which is light enough to use all over without overpowering anyone. I visited Godiva for my free monthly piece of chocolate and tried to order a dark chocolate raspberry drink, but their machine wasn't working. Bit disappointing. And that pretty much wraps up my personal shopping expedition at Florida Mall.
Sunday was such a busy day, I am still trying to recover from it. Because my car hit quite a number of lovebugs during the Orlando trip, it really needed washing. But I got home too late on Saturday and Sunday afternoon there were mountain biking plans. So that left Sunday morning. But I needed to run a few errands (Target, Publix) first, otherwise I'd just have to wash the car again immediately. So I did the errands first, had a quick lunch while watching tennis (French Open!), then washed my car. At 1:00 in the afternoon. It was plenty hot and I was trying to hurry and get the job done in order to meet Matt and Vicky at our prearranged time.
By the time I was done, I was dripping with sweat and my throat was parched. And it was time to get ready, load up the bikes and go. So I didn't get a shower (ew!) and didn't get to relax and cool down. I think, as a result, the early afternoon activity had a detrimental effect on my biking ability. I was tired and couldn't keep up with the group. It wasn't until well into the ride when we biked what I now realize is my favorite trail (The River Trail) that I finally began to get into it. Then Tom experienced tummy trouble and we all headed for the trailhead as quickly as possible. We saw a water moccasin in the middle of the trail on the way out. It wasn't until I was too close to stop that I realized just what it was. I peddled so fast my legs were a blur. Scary! I was within a foot or two of it!
After biking, the four of us went to Chili's for dinner. The company was good, as were the chips and salsa, but my meal and Tom's meal weren't very good. Par for the course, it would seem.
I soothed myself later that evening, after a much long awaited shower, with a bowl of Coconut Road ice cream. I tell you, Publix is really doing a fantastic job with their limited edition ice creams. I can't recall the complete description of this one, but it involved coconut ice cream and chocolate covered praline bits. To me, it tasted like someone took a Girl Scout Samoas cookie, crushed it up and added it to very creamy lightly coconut ice cream. A nice topper for a good and bad weekend.
